Uncle Pascha was sealing shut an emergency exit on the opposite side of the ballroom. Using lumber and then strategically positioned furniture, Cousin Jocelyn and Aunt Fiona were blocking the hallways that led to the remainder of the mansion. In case the humans became creative, Cousin Charlaine was nailing shut the windows on the south side of the ballroom. Uncle Stefan and Cousin Jeremiah were adding iron bars to the window design. (Or rather, Jeremiah was sucking on the bars, and Uncle Stefan was installing them.) Together, the vampires were transforming the mansion’s ballroom into a cage.
All the gilded mirrors had been draped in tapestries. One emerald tapestry hid the door to the cellar. A second door to the cellar was in the hall with the bathrooms—Cousin Jocelyn and Aunt Fiona had deliberately left that hall unblocked.
Also, a magnificent clock covered in gold-leaf swirls had been added above the orchestra area, where the DJ would blast undoubtedly cheesy party music for the prom. The clock ticked loudly, as if it were the mansion’s heartbeat. Pearl thought of all the heartbeats that would be in this ballroom soon. “Uncle Felix . . . if we wanted to spare a few students . . .”
He laughed. “Oh, don’t worry, Pearl. We won’t let the king’s vamps hog them all.”
“It just seems a little greedy for just one night,” Pearl said. With so many students and chaperones, His Majesty would be sufficiently sated even if he sucked a pint each from dozens, wouldn’t he? He didn’t need everyone.
“It’s not an ordinary night. It’s the Ceremony!” He threw out his arms like the ringmaster of the circus. “This will be a night to remember!”
She turned away before Uncle Felix could read her expression. She should be as gleeful as he was. This was her victory! For the hundredth time since the unicorn stabbed her, she asked herself, What’s wrong with me?
“Idiot!” Uncle Stefan shouted. He clocked Jeremiah on the head with an iron bar.
Uncle Felix excused himself from Pearl and scurried across the ballroom to assist Uncle Stefan while Jeremiah whimpered on the floor. Pearl didn’t follow. It was useless to talk to him while he was with Uncle Stefan. She watched them for a moment and a new question popped into her head: What’s wrong with them?
The question shocked her. To erase it, Pearl crossed the ballroom and began to hammer nails into the windows, securing them to the windowsills.
Several windows away, Cousin Charlaine was muttering to herself as she hammered. Scooting along the wall to the next window, she flinched when the moonlight touched her skin. As if she felt Pearl looking at her, Charlaine whipped around and bared her fangs at Pearl. She then returned to hammering.
Pearl resumed her own hammering and tried not to imagine Charlaine draining Bethany. She added another nail. She hadn’t let Jadrien drink from Bethany; she wasn’t about to let Charlaine or any of her other relatives sap the light from her eyes.
She had to talk to Mother.
After nailing shut one more window, she returned the hammer to Uncle Felix and told him she was wanted downstairs. She crossed to the cellar door, hidden by its tapestry, and she descended into the cellar.
Downstairs had been transformed into a beautiful ballroom, worthy of a dozen kings. Thousands of crystal strands dripped from the ceiling so that the cellar looked drenched in glitter. Elegantly bedecked tables bordered the room, leaving a wide-open floor in the center for both the ceremony and the waltzing. The aunts had constructed a dais of wood stained so dark that it looked like stone. It was decorated with curls of gold filigree. Pearl walked toward it, replicating Minerva’s lesson. She practiced kneeling in one fluid motion.
“Passable,” Mother said as she swept past Pearl. Her red velvet gown whispered against the stone floor. She repositioned a vase on one of the tables. “It will have to do, of course. We are out of time.”
“Mother . . . I have a request that I believe you’ll agree will be in the best interests of the Family,” Pearl said, choosing her words carefully. “A few of the humans have the potential to be valuable in terms of establishing Greenbridge High as a long-term hunting ground, but the toxin would render them useless. Can we find a way to avoid drinking from a select few of the humans?”
Mother weaved between the tables, dusting invisible crumbs and straightening tablecloths. “Everyone will be drained. Leaving anyone alive would be a security risk.”
Pearl felt as if all the borrowed blood in her veins had frozen.
“We will find a new hunting ground for you,” Mother said. “Your father has contacts throughout Connecticut. He will pull the necessary strings. Perhaps a private school next time.”
Careful to control her voice, Pearl said, “The plan was to take a pint from each, let the toxin cloud their memories, and then send them on their way none the wiser.”
“His Majesty amended the plan,” Mother said. She raised her voice and said, “Cousin Shirley, please refold the napkins on table fifteen.” Shirley, who had been polishing one of the wine racks, scurried to table fifteen.
Pearl asked, “Amended the plan?”
“He wants a bloodbath,” Mother said.
Pearl couldn’t speak.
Mother continued, “Burning the Dairy Hut was so effective at hiding the evidence of a vampire kill that we decided we could repeat that on a larger scale here. After the feast, we burn the mansion. Your father even has plans for it to look accidental.” She laughed.
“Oh,” Pearl said. She felt as if her mind were swimming. Everything was drowning in a red haze. Her insides felt as if they’d cramped into knots.
“The king will be very pleased with you,” Mother said. “I already am.” She kissed Pearl’s cheek. Her lips were cold. “Help fold napkins, dear.”
As the bell rang for lunch period, Pearl leaned her forehead against the cool metal locker. She heard the thunder of all the juniors around her as they slammed their lockers and headed for the cafetorium. After Saturday, this hall would be silent. Of course, she wouldn’t be here to know. She wouldn’t be able to return as the sole surviving junior. Oh, no, she’d be starting over at another school. Mother and Daddy would enroll her elsewhere so she could befriend the humans and then betray them. At this thought, her stomach lurched inside her, and her grip tightened on the locker door until the metal creaked under her hand.
“Pearl, coming to lunch?” Bethany asked.
She lifted her head. “Yeah.” Shoving her books into her locker, she touched the notebook that Bethany had given her. Her vision blurred as if she were underwater.
“Pearl . . . are you okay? You’re crying.”
Pearl’s hands flew to her eyes. She wiped quickly, expecting to see a smear of blood tears. Instead, she saw only a sheen of water. She brought the tears to her lips and tasted salt. “Real tears,” she said.
“Is it your family?” Bethany asked. “What did they do? I’ve never seen you cry before.”
To herself as much as to Bethany, Pearl said, “I never have.” Her tongue went to her gums, and she felt the skin that covered her fangs. I’m still a vampire, she thought.
“Come to lunch. We’ll figure it out together,” Bethany said. She put her arm around Pearl. “They don’t own you or control you. You can make your own choices.”
Pearl shook her head. She had no choices. She’d lost control of the situation. The ceremony and the prom were moving forward regardless of how she felt. Shrugging off Bethany’s arm, Pearl walked past the line for food and into the cafetorium. Sunlight streamed over all the students. I’ve doomed them all, she thought.
Holding a tray with a salad and three apples, Sana from the track team breezed past her and said over her shoulder, “5K today, yes? Of course yes. Otherwise, you forfeit and must admit that I am clearly faster than you.”
Pearl caught her arm. “Are you going to prom?”
“Absolutely,” Sana said. “Half of us from the team are going together. Want in?”
Mutely, Pearl shook her head.
Joining them, Zeke said, “She has a dat
e.” He had a bag lunch in one hand and a two-liter soda in the other.
Matt carried an old Atari Pac-Man lunch bag and was sucking on a juice box. She thought of Uncle Stefan and how he sucked blood. She felt the wetness in her eyes again. “Ooh, yes, hot date,” Matt said. “Hubba-hubba.”
Zeke raised his eyebrows at Matt. “Did you really just say that?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” Matt said. “Dude, it just slipped out.”
“‘Hubba-hubba’ never slips out,” Zeke said. “You selected those words with deliberate intent, and I question your commitment to the respectable use of the English language.”
Catching up (with a limp sandwich on her tray), Bethany said, “And these are my date. Or dates, rather.” She faked a sigh but couldn’t erase her smile. After tomorrow night, Pearl thought, she won’t ever smile again.
Sana nodded hello to Bethany. “So who’s your hot date?” she asked Pearl. “I didn’t know you had a boyfriend.”
She pictured Jadrien. He saw them all as sheep, ready for the slaughter. Pearl squeezed her eyes shut and tried to will herself to stop these thoughts, these images, these feelings.
Sana said, “If your date’s a jerk, then come with us. Zero dates. Zero pressure.”
Evan joined them. “Hey, who’s a jerk?” Pearl opened her eyes to look at him, really look at him. His eyes were beautiful black with colors dancing around his irises. His skin looked warm. If she touched him, she knew she’d feel the pulse beating just below the surface. He was the most alive person she’d ever met.
She felt the pressure in her eyes again, the strange water that threatened to spill out.
Evan touched her arm. “Pearl?”
His touch was like a jolt of electricity, waking the blood under her skin. Pearl said, in a louder voice than she’d meant to, “We have to cancel prom.”
All conversation near them ceased.
A few whispers spread across the cafetorium, and a hush fell over all the students.
Bethany touched Pearl’s other arm. “Pearl, what are you talking about?”
She looked at Bethany and then at Evan and then at the students at the tables. She recognized so many of the faces, a few from each of the crowds she even knew by name: Tara, Kelli, Melody, Emily, Emma. “Vampires,” Pearl said. Everyone was silent. Everyone could hear her. “Beneath your prom, in the mansion’s cellars, the vampires of Connecticut will be holding their Fealty Ceremony. At the conclusion of it, they will feast upon you. They plan to kill everyone at prom.”
A few laughed, and then the laughter spread like a wave across the cafetorium.
“You can’t go!” she said. “It’s not safe!” Of course they wouldn’t believe her. Concentrating, she pushed her fangs out through her gums. She’d show them the truth. She’d undo what she’d done, and she’d fix everything.
Evan slapped his hand over her mouth.
Chapter
TWENTY-FIVE
“We need to talk,” Evan said into her ear.
Bethany jumped forward. Her face was bright red as all eyes focused on her. “New prom theme! Vampires! Do you like it?”
Most of the students cheered. Some groaned. A few catcalled.
Conversations burst out across all the tables.
“Outside,” Evan said to Pearl. She thought about flinging him away. It would be easy, a quick maneuver that she’d done a thousand times with Jadrien. One twist of her arm, and he’d be splayed across the nearest cafeteria table. “Please, don’t fight me,” he whispered. He took his hand off her mouth. “And keep your fangs in.”
Pearl froze. Fangs? He knew?
“Trust me, okay?”
She let herself be shepherded across the cafetorium. As she passed by tables, various students called out to her, “Great theme!” “You rock!” “This will be the best prom ever!” “Can we wear fangs?” “Will there be fake blood?” “Can I wear fake blood?” “Does blood come out of tuxedos? Mine’s a rental. . .”
As they reached the courtyard doors, Mr. Barstow, their English teacher, intercepted them. “Am I right to think you’re planning a dinner-theater kind of show with this ‘Fealty Ceremony’ during the prom? I love the concept of imposing a story structure on a free-form event.”
“Still need to work out a few details,” Evan said. “We need to do a little planning where the rest of the junior class can’t hear.” He reached past Mr. Barstow to open the door. “Lots of surprises to be staged, you know.”
“It just started raining out there,” Mr. Barstow said.
“We’ll stay under the trees,” Evan promised.
“All right,” Mr. Barstow said. “You know, I used to be involved in amateur dinner theater, improv with audience participation. Let me know if you’d like any advice.”
“Uh, thanks,” Evan said. He pushed through the door and propelled Pearl outside in front of him. Drizzle hit her skin. “Come on, vampire girl, this way.”
She followed him across the courtyard to the trees. She expected him to stop there, as he’d told Mr. Barstow, but he kept walking out of the courtyard and through the parking lot. She caught his arm as he headed into the woods. “Enough,” she said.
He shot a look back at the school.
“Unless Superman is in our school, no one can hear you from here,” she said. Rain snaked down her cheeks and wormed down the back of her shirt. “I’ve been patient enough.”
“A little farther,” he said. “I can’t be seen. Please, Pearl, you’ve trusted me before.” His eyes were so ridiculously earnest. She sighed and gestured for him to continue. He plunged into the woods and led her in between the trees. Rain hit the leaves in soft smacks. The pine-needle floor squished under her boots.
Evan halted in a clearing with a rock in the center. It was the same clearing she’d chosen to wait with Bethany for the unicorn. She frowned at him.
“That afternoon when you took Bethany here, I watched you from those bushes,” he said, pointing to a thicket of brambles. “We weren’t sure you were safe yet.”
“Excuse me?” Pearl said.
“Just . . . wait a minute, okay?” he said. “Easier if I show you first.”
He closed his eyes and held still. Rain drew streaks down his face. It flattened his shirt and curved across his arms. Slowly, Evan began to glow. Soft white light emanated from him as if he were in a cheesy religious movie.
“Huh,” Pearl said. “Super Glow Boy. Unexpected but interesting.”
The glow brightened, washing out the features of his face and the outline of his body. He looked like a white blur, and then light flashed so bright that Pearl flinched.
An instant later, Evan was gone.
In his place, in the center of the clearing, was a unicorn.
Like water poured from a pitcher, all thought ran out of her head. “You’re . . . you . . .” She pointed at him, out of words. He shimmered again. This time, there was no flash. After a blur of light, Evan knelt in front of her, sweating and panting.
Pearl stared at him. “Seriously? You? You’re Mr. Sparkly-and-Pointy?”
“Not the nickname I would have picked,” Evan said. He straightened and winced, as if the new shape of his bones hurt. “You’ve heard of werewolves, right? Well, I’m . . . kind of like that, except I don’t need to wait for the full moon.”
“You’re a were-unicorn?” Pearl asked.
“Basically, yes.”
“Do you have any idea how stupid that sounds?”
Evan’s lips quirked into a smile. “It’s not as if I . . . how did you put it? Poop rainbows.”
Pearl pointed her finger at him. “You stabbed me through the heart.”
“And healed you,” he said. “And carried you home. Pearl, I can explain—”
She knew her mouth had dropped open, but she couldn’t help it. He was the knight in shining armor who had placed her on the porch that dawn. “Whatever you did, the stabbing or the healing, you’re the reason that I can walk in sunlight. You’re the reason tha
t I have a reflection. You’re the reason that I—”
“Have developed a conscience,” Evan said. “Yes.”
“You . . . you . . . ,” she sputtered. Out of words, Pearl launched herself at him. She aimed for his shoulders, intending to slam him against a tree. Instead, he dodged faster than she would have thought possible for a human. Okay, so he’s not human, she thought. Adjusting, she switched to fighting as if he were Jadrien. She kicked low and shot out her fist at the same time. He danced backward and swung his arm to intercept her punch. She grabbed his wrist and yanked. He leaned back and kicked at her knee. She twisted and flipped up, using his arm to propel her up into the tree branches. She landed on the branches and perched above him for a fraction of a second before she dived toward him. He dodged, and she landed and rolled across the roots and underbrush. Rain soaked into her skin. She sprang up, her fangs out.
“You’re fast,” she growled. “I’m faster.”
She exploded into movement, a frenzied swirl of kicks and punches. She felt rather than saw them impact. She drove him out of the clearing into the woods—and then she saw a flash of gold shoot from his arm.
Pearl leaped backward as Evan sliced through the air with a sword of swirled gold. “Good,” she said, grinning with her fangs out. “With my new ‘conscience,’ I’d hate to beat up a defenseless boy.”
She kicked fast and hard, and he spun and swung with the sword. She dodged it, and then he attacked, cutting through the branches and leaves as he stabbed and sliced.
The sword didn’t have a hilt. Instead, his hand was wrapped around the base. And it didn’t have an edge. It was a spiral of gold that ended in a sharp tip, exactly like . . . Pearl faltered, and Evan stabbed the unicorn horn through her sleeve, grazing her skin. She fingered the cut and said conversationally, “You know you have a unicorn horn coming out of your wrist.”
He withdrew the horn. “Uh, yeah.” Horn raised in front of him, he waited for her to attack again. When she didn’t, he held out his arm and rotated it to show her. The horn emerged from his wrist at the base of his palm as if it were an extension of his bones. “It’s an adaptation so we can fight better. Not always efficient to turn horse. Really, it’s not any more strange than your fangs.”
Drink, Slay, Love Page 21